


A Trail of Breadcrumbs

by entanglednow



Category: Tin Man (2007)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-04
Updated: 2012-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-28 22:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/312894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entanglednow/pseuds/entanglednow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some things are still too big to stay in his head for long, they rattle free and crash around without any trouble at all</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Trail of Breadcrumbs

Glitch is getting better at this, at least he thinks he is. People tell him he's getting better, though he can't remember which people, or if they're trustworthy. He's going to choose to believe that they are, and that he is. Having people around helps, and there are more people around now, people willing to pick up the threads of conversation and hang on to them if he should drop them, and he still does, a lot. But it's getting easier to slot the broken pieces together, if there hasn't been too much time, or too many distracting things, between the pieces.

He's very proud of this. In the moments when he remembers to be.

Some things are still too big to stay in his head for long, they rattle free and crash around without any trouble at all, making a mess wherever they go. Which is very frustrating.

It's not perfect. But he no longer feels like he might float free any more. Set adrift in a series of snapshot moments, with the lingering suspicion that they're never quite in the right order.

Not even when he finds himself at the edge of the hedge maze with grass all over his feet, and leaves in his hair, and he's laughing at something he doesn't remember, mouth strangely warm and numb. He can't remember if he should wait or go somewhere else. He doesn't remember if he was alone or with someone. But he can hear noise, people, and so he drifts in that direction, a slow meandering sort of walk, just in case he was waiting for someone - so they can catch up.

The noise and people turns out to be a very fancy party, fancy enough that he briefly wonders if they'll object to his grassy feet and leafy hair. But then DG appears out of the throng of glitter, like a smiling, silver raindrop. She laughs and pats his hair, and he doesn't need to remember anything for a while.

The balconies are high, and the winds snags at his coat and hair. He's not entirely sure why he's there - but then the sky erupts in colour. Dark, and then bright, dark, and then bright, and loud. Fireworks, and he once knew exactly how to make them, the exact measures of chemicals, and metals, and enthusiasm to make them _perfect_.

Glitch is fascinated for a long time. He knows because his fingers and toes are numb by the time he remembers them. Cain has one of his hands pressed between his own, and Glitch can't remember for the life of him whether he's been watching the sky go bright and colourful with him, or whether he's just arrived. All he knows for certain is that Cain is warm, and he's muttering soft, affectionate things, which make Glitch want to stay quiet and listen, instead of tangling it all up with words and confusion. Even Cain's frustration and amusement is a warm, familiar sort that he's gotten used to.

It's cold at the top of the castle, and Cain follows him, listens to him talk, though Glitch forgets what he's saying the moment he runs out of breath.

Cain steals his red licorice - where did he get that? - and hands him a glass of something which bubbles enthusiastically, and tastes both fascinating and horribly dubious at the same time. Cain has one of his own, its appearance magical and confusing in the way things tend to be when Glitch stops concentrating. Cain clinks their glasses together, a rhyming note which seems oddly important, though he can't quite grasp why.

"Not too much," Cain says, and stops Glitch from tipping the glass high.

He's probably right, because the fact that alcohol impairs brain function seems like it would be of special concern, since he doesn’t have much function to begin with. He's going to mention that, or possibly recite a song he once heard about drunken sailors, he isn't exactly certain. Only Cain tugs at his cold hands, and pulls him in, kisses him to stop him from talking, and Glitch has a dizzy moment of surprised delight, thoughts running in a thousand direction, even as his mouth ignores them all and kisses Cain back.

Cain does it very well, and he seems to know exactly how Glitch likes it, even when Glitch himself doesn't - and he knows instantly that this is one of those big things that rolls and rolls in his head, but never catches. Because there's just too much attached to it, too much to hold on to. So Glitch digs his fingers hard into Cain's coat and kisses him until he doesn't need to think any more.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic of] A Trail of Breadcrumbs](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3700241) by [Dr_Fumbles_McStupid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Fumbles_McStupid/pseuds/Dr_Fumbles_McStupid)




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